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Fair LBHS unveils new program
District may become third L.I. International Baccalaureate program
There’s a buzz in the Long Beach School District. Administrators hope to implement the International Baccalaureate program next school year, and in a step toward that goal, Long Beach High social studies teacher Dr. Andrew Smith and Principal Nick Restivo gave an informational presentation on the program at the Board of Education work session Sept. 29.
“I am familiar with the program as it’s implemented in Rockville Centre and Commack, and the results that they’ve seen have us very excited about the program here in Long Beach,” said Dr. Vincent Butera, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction.
The international program began in 1968 in Geneva, Switzerland, and today can be found only in two high schools on Long Island, Commack and Rockville Centre’s South Side High.
John Murphy, assistant principal and I.B. coordinator at South Side, said the district was one of the first public schools in the country to implement the program when it began offering I.B. classes in 1981. Murphy said it was as result of what he called the “nation at risk” years, “... when people were worried about high-level national standards and in an attempt to provide an accredited external standard for the highly motivated kids.”
The Long Beach School District began researching the program several years ago. It offers such courses as Spanish, history of the Americas and biology. “The goal of the school district is to continue to move students into more challenging course work, and this is just another opportunity for them,” said Smith, the school’s I.B. coordinator. He added that more students are choosing to take Advanced Placement and college-level courses.
The district has already applied to become an I.B. school, and 25 staff members have undergone training to teach I.B. curriculum. An I.B. authorization committee will visit the school on Nov. 16 and 17, and if the program is approved, students can begin classes next September.
Smith explained that the greatest difference between A.P. and I.B. is that the former involves individual classes that end with an exam, while the latter is a diploma program.
